Jordan Pickford’s cheeky England penalty preparation revealed

Jordan Pickford had a special water bottle covered with details of every Colombian player’s penalty habits to help him play a decisive role in England’s historic World Cup shoot-out victory, it has been revealed.

Manager Gareth Southgate has spoken about how much practice has gone into his side’s penalty-taking at the tournament, with the players keen to put an end to a run of three consecutive World Cup shoot-out defeats.

Now backup keeper Jack Butland has revealed just how canny Pickford was in his own preparation, with his teammate having scrawled notes all over a water bottle and taken it with him to the goal.

“The night before the game we all sat down – the keepers, goalie coach and the analysts – and went over everything that could possibly come up,” he said.

“We watched a bunch of penalties and we all came to our own individual conclusions, which all matched up and gave us confidence and belief in what we were going to do. There were no nerves or worries.”